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Original poster

So does no-one else leave their baby outside the shop in the buggy any more then?

216 replies

KathyMCMLXXII · 28/03/2007 12:37

Just wondered because I am the only person I know in RL that does this!

I wouldn't leave him outside Sainsburys for an hour or anything, but when it's a little shop and either I'm only going to be a moment, or I can see out of the window, it doesn't bother me a bit.

Surely it's the easiest thing to do?

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Spidermama · 29/03/2007 10:33

And perhaps if we could get a better grip on risk assessment as a society, we wouldn't have, for example, gone to war in Iraq.

newgirl · 29/03/2007 11:20

i don't see the need to leave them outside really

i get petrol when i'm in the car on my own, or if dh in the car as we all going out

and go in shops with buggy access

i don't think a nutter will run off with the baby but i think I just have a sense inside that i'm meant to be looking after them when out and about

if i have to pop in to school and can't get buggy in i ask a friend to keep an eye for a minute

3easterbunniesandnomore · 29/03/2007 12:15

Oli,
I do leave my Kids in teh car at times...only if my es is with me, or if I get petrol (and Newgirl, lovely that you can find yourself in the car without Kids or that your dh does teh filling up of petrol...don't forget, not everyone has that luxury).
However, leaving a Buggy unattendet infront of a shop, where I live it's not something I would consider... because to many idiots live around here, and well...you just don't know what ideas they may come up with...oh....lets replay the Bulgar Boy scenario (traintrack near, etc..)...
I don't think you have to be completely OTT about your childs safety to consider such action as to risky....but it does depend on where you live, etc...!

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kittypants · 29/03/2007 12:17

if i cant take pushchair in i take ds out of pushchair.i dont mind pushchair being nicked but anything could happen to lo!shocked when i see children left outside!

foxinsocks · 29/03/2007 12:17

I used to leave my two outside shops in Hammersmith. A lot of the smaller shops I couldn't get the double buggy inside so I either didn't go in or left them by the door. At our local shop, the shopkeeper's wife used to come out and 'talk' to them while I wandered round the store child-free - it was bliss!

sweetkitty · 29/03/2007 12:32

Another one with a double buggy here so sometimes it's just not possible to get the buggy into the shop. Very occasionally only if I really have no choice I'll leave them in my full view at all times. If I have to get petrol myself I do leave them in the car. DD1 runs away at any opportunity and DD2 wriggles and wants to walk even though she's 14 months, a complete nightmare trying to control them both on my own.

madamez · 29/03/2007 12:58

Agree wtih other posters about wierd risk assessment: the vast majoritiy of accidents to DCs happen in the home (not talking abuse so much as falling downstairs or pulling saucepans onto themselves)... Anyway, boo hoo, my parents once left me (age 2.7) alone in the house in the middle of the night...

Their pitiful excuse was that mum had gone into labour with my brother, 3 weeks early at about 3am and I think my grandmother, who lived nearby, either wasn't on the phone or wasn't asnwering, so my dad drove my mum to the hospital (which was about 5 mins away), dropped her off on the steps of the maternity wing and hurtled back home to check I hadn't up and died.... Of course I was fast asleep and quite unharmed.

SingingBear · 29/03/2007 13:12

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DizzyBrummie · 29/03/2007 13:13

Mm, this is a tricky one, I don't have a LO yet (6 weeks to go hopefully) but I'm not sure what I'll do. I'm a bit of a worrier so I would be a nightmare whilst in the shop.

On the stats point, it may be riskier to take your child on a short car journey than to leave them outside a shop but society (and maybe even yourself) would never accuse you of being a neglectful/bad mother if something happened on a short car journey but you can bet your bottom dollar that they'd be up-in-arms if something happened in the 2 minutes you weren't with them.

In Holland about 10 years ago I was stood in a supermarket when the woman in front of me in the queue said something to me (in dutch) and then walked off leaving her LO sat in a trolley in front of me. My brother translated that she had asked me to keep an eye on the LO while she went to look for something she'd forgotten. I was a bit shocked at this. He told me that the Dutch usually leave the LO outside shops and thought it very stange that he and his wife wouldn't, 'Why would someone take your baby???' was the response.

pookey · 29/03/2007 14:03

I leave ds at the till of Tesco express while I run off down the aisle to get something I have forgotten but with tiny local shops if I can get the buggy in I will, even thought I sense it annoys people. I worry the buggy might roll off onto the road. I am only just getting comfy with leaving ds parked outside the front door while I pile shopping bags into our narrow hallway - I imagine someone running up the driveway and stealing him!!!! Mad!

beckybrastraps · 29/03/2007 14:28

I've left my baby in a shop before. She was quite new, and I wasn't used to having the two, so I grabbed ds and marched out. Dh was loading the car and said "where's dd?" and I sent him back in to get her because I was too embarassed.

beckybrastraps · 29/03/2007 14:29

Oh, and yes, I have left them outside shops before.

imaginaryfriend · 29/03/2007 14:53

In terms of risk I think everyone is aware of how unsafe roads are and car travel is. For that reason we wear seat belts, try to drive carefully and teach our kids not to walk into the road.

Just because leaving a child unattended is much more unlikely to come to something awful happening it doesn't mean one doesn't have to still consider it as a risk. It's relatively way less likely than a road accident but that doesn't mean you ignore it. The parents of Jamie Bulger, for instance, took their eyes off him for a second.

I'm one of the never never never people on here, I just wouldn't risk it. Plus dd would've hated it if I'd left her in the buggy and gone into a shop.

But I do envy those living in small villages where it's much safer. On busy busy London streets it's just not an option, you never see it.

dolly1972 · 29/03/2007 17:03

what do you do then if you have twins?
i have to leave mine outside the local shop as the shop isnt big enough for me to get them in, i wouldnt take them out of their buggy and into the shop as i wouldnt be able to buy anything then!!
dolly x

itsme123 · 29/03/2007 17:20

i have left dd outside shops when i can see her. Wouldnt wake her up to take her in. would ask for help or just leave it if it wasnt too imprtant
would NEVER leave DD asleep in the house to run DH to station singing bear... he would walk first

MMooMar · 29/03/2007 17:25

Nope ,Couldnt do it.I wouldnt be able to shop for the worry anyway if I did.

If I cant get in with the buggy then I dont go in and whatever I wanted stays ungot .

Would`nt leave my dog outside either,too many spitful people about!

MrsGP · 29/03/2007 17:32

my mum once left me and my sister outside a shop (prob bout 5+7yrs)
It was only a small shop and while my mum was trying s.thing on in the changing room the owner went off to get her lunch locking my mum in the shop.
Looking back it was hillarious. My mum was talking to me and my sis through the letter box.
The woman returned about 20mins later.
We were threatened not to tell my dad. She was always doing daft stuff like that!!

bundle · 29/03/2007 17:33

hunker i too never leave my dd's in the car when paying for petrol

manuka · 29/03/2007 18:03

I leave mine when paying for petrol. Is that really bad? I lock the car and can see through the window.

luciemule · 29/03/2007 18:17

A couple of years ago, there was a case where a woman had gone in to pay for petrol and left her dd in car when someone stole the car and drove off with child (don't think they knew dd was in there. Actually there might have been a ds too - can't remember. Anyway, when the car stopped they escaped and were fine. Also, what if there was a fire at petrol station (I know it's not likely) and your kids were locked in the car. I've always taken mine with me even though DH says I'm more likely to get ran over walking with them over the forecourt to pay!

hippipotami · 29/03/2007 18:20

My mum once left me on a train. We had to change trains somewhere and I had left my fave toy behind. (I was about 1), so she sat me on the seat, told me to stay put, and dashed across the platform to the other train to retrieve my toy.

The train with me on it was about to leave when someone spotted me and stopped the train!!

My dh was one day coming home from the airport. He saw a car come out of a carpark with the infant car seat on the roof!! Apparently he flashed the lady driving it but she ignored him. She was only going 10mph in slow moving traffic so he followed her, trying to get her attention. It was only when cars coming the other way started flashing her too that she pulled over.
Her baby was in the car seat on top of the car. Thank heavens they were all stuck in slow-moving traffic!!!

mumfor1standfinaltime · 29/03/2007 18:34

I knew this would lead to the petrol forecourt debate.

Your house could catch fire over night - does that mean you sleep outside? Or would you get eaten by a passing hedgehog on the lawn...?

MrsGP · 29/03/2007 19:00

I am still trying to get my head round the woman leaving her baby ontop of her car, that could have had a very nasty ending. I bet the poor woman will take years to get over that. It will be a story for her ds/dd to tell when she is older!

Belgianchocolatesmama · 29/03/2007 19:21

I leave mine outside small shops where I can see them or I leave them in the car when I go into the postoffice or so. It's quicker to just run in and out than unstrap them both and then strap them both back in. The car is locked and they entertain eachother. They're fine.
Oh and yes I think the dc's are safer in the car when paying for petrol than out of it. My ds ran out of the shop while my dh was paying 3 years ago, right in front of a car who could luckily stop in time. I had flashbacks for ages after. Better still though, I now tend to go to the drive through petrol station by me: no need to get out of the car at all!

magicfarawaytree · 29/03/2007 19:24

a woman was car jacked last year she was in a flash car with two children in the back. they forces her out and drove off with the children, only stopping and letting the chldren out a bit further down the road because of the pleas of the oldest child about 4 years old I was told. I am obsessive about my children but would never take them across a petrol forecourt. if I cant seen them in from the window I wait for a pump I can see them from. I had 3 under 3 and there is not way I could safely get them across a busy forecourt.